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tv   Hardball With Chris Matthews  MSNBC  December 31, 2012 4:00pm-5:00pm PST

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the supreme court come with some good stuff and some bad stuff. i think we're going to see states try to undermine a lot of national moves. i think that you should keep your boots and picket signs right next to your champagne glasses because, by next year's revvies, we're going to have to have used a lot of both. well, that's it for 2012 revvies. i'd like to thank our glittering panel, jonathan, victoria, krystal and richard wolf. we know that 2013 will bring us more to talk about and more chances to hand out the revvies. thank you for watching. good night to everybody. >> you've been watching the 2012 revvie awards brought to you by "politics nation" and al sharp ton. thanks for watching. we hope you have a safe and happy holiday season and see you
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next year. good night, everybody. >> welcome to msnbc's continuing coverage of breaking news on capitol hill. i'm chris jansen. unless something drastic changes in the next five hours, america will be going over the fiscal cliff. we do know that after intense negotiations between senate minority leaders, let me show you the highlights. $600 billion in revenue will be raised over the next decade through a series of raises on taxes for the wealthiest americans. and those rates would also carry over for couples making under 450,000. any income above those two numbers would be taxed at 39.6 pnt. the top tax rate under president clinton. and capital gains taxes above those amounts would be increased to 20%, that is up from 15%.
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this tax deal would also create a perm naanent fix for the alternative minimum tax and extend unemployment insurance for 2 million americans. the president made it clear what his top priority is in any deal. >> preventing that tax hike has been my top priority. because the last thing folks like the folks up here on the stage can afford right now is to pay an extra $2,000 in taxes next year. middle class families can't afford it. businesses can't afford it. our economy can't afford it. >> just an hour later, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell signalled his agreement with the president. >> so i agree, let's pass the tax relief portion now.
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let's take what's been agreed to and get moving. we all want to protect tax pairs and we can get it done now. >> however, despite what sounds like good news, there will be no vote in the house tonight even in the house reaches a deal. in fact, the senate has adjourned until tomorrow. >> joining me now when we talk a couple of hours ago, there wouldn't be a vote on either side. but maybe something from the senate tonight? quite possibly. aparentally, the sticking point, we've been talking about this all day, they wanted to delay these automatic spending cuts.
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they were supposed to force everybody to act. what they have agreed to is a two-month delay in those spending cuts. we're talking about $12 billion a month, $24 billion. it is a measly amount of money when you consider the federal budget. the federal budget out lays about $4 trillion a year. that's the state of play right now. they're trying to tab yup late it. chris, there is so much that can go wrong at this point if you are, in fact, in favor of the deal that you described that has emerged throughout the course of the day. i should add the number two said
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it is possible that we would see if vice pthd up here tonight, joe biden, of course. if there were to be a deal, of course, biden has been deeply involved since yesterday. when mitch mcconnell reached out to him. that's where it stands rielgts now. chris, part of this, we talked a little bit about procedure. the senate can do just about anything it wants if every senator just agreed to do this lickety-split, that is a huge stretch. at that point, all bets are off. mitch mcconnell has got to get on the same page as john boehner on the house 06 representatives. mcconnell is not going to walk the political bank.
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so a lot of variables here. the plan, all along, was for the senate to pass this thing and therefore, sort of box in the house. john boehner could present it to his gop conference, his conservatives and say, look, this is the only deal we can get. however, as you report it, it's quite clear now that technically, at least, we're going to be going over that cliff. the house, while they say they could call themselves back into session at any moment for all intense and purposes, they're gone until noon tomorrow. house leaders, their aides say tomorrow is a holiday and no one is going to feel an impact of this until later on in the week. but this is a dangerous game not only they're playing with the american economy and taxpayers, but a dangerous political game, as well. what do you know about the possibility that we could see
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the vice president on the hill tonight? >> if senate democrats would like the vice president to go over to the hill, if they believe that would help out the negotiations, if he is prepared to do that i can tell you senior administration officials right now hod ld as that he continued to monitor the talks that are going on on the hill. as you pointed out, the vice president has really been key to these negotiations. mitch mcconnell reached out to him. he really appears, by all accounts, helped to move the needle forwar. he has more than 30 years service as a u.s. senator. the 23 of those were spent serving alongside mitch mckonl. they have a good-working relationship. a strong-working relationship. the vice president knows how the inner workings of the senate work here in d.c. he is certainly someone who has been useful over the course of the past 24 hours.
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president obama, for his part, has been placing phone calls, as well. he has launched this two-pronged approach behind the scenes and launching this very public cam paraphernal campaign. democrats, you heard him come out today and sail this is not a perfect plan. it doesn't do everything we wablted. as you know, he ran on that campaign of increasing taxes on those who make $250,000 or more. the deal that is coming to fruition is those making more than $450,000. and there's some other compromises. so the president really taking a two-pronged approach here as these negotiations come forward. more reaction on capital hill. let me talk about this whole idea that even if it gets through the senate, etch if we see vice president biden go up on the hill, they get this done, maybe, even a vote tonight, you
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still have the house and we heard a lot of negative reaction right after some of the parameters of this deal came out. what are you hearing? that's right, chris. i think it's the most under-reported aspect of this story. it's pretty empty right now. i'm over on the house side of the capital. in the senate, they're going to work through the night. they say it's not a slam dunk by any means. anything that comes out of the senate could easily move through the house. democrats, liberals oblt to the threshold number. they don't like the fact of what could be a two-month offset. on top of that, you have a lot of conservatives so those are big issues. i spoke with one republican aide
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that said nancy pelosi would have to add a lot of votes. a bill could come over from the senate and if there is a problem amongst house republicans or enough of them object, john boehner could amend it and send it back to the senate. from the house. that would put it in delay. >> they have all day tomorrow to work it out. one last thing i've been told that some could make the sale to members at 12:01 a.m. that any deal that comes over from the senate would be voting -- not voting for a tax hike, would be voting to cut taxes because then we're over the cliff and everything would expire. so interesting optics. i think it should be really known by folks watching tonight
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just because something is going to come out of the senate late tonight, early tomorrow morning, there's no guarantee it has a clear way forward. it's without some sort of drama at the very end. >> we thank them for their updates, as well, at 7:10 here on the east coast. the drama continues. we should also make one more quick note about what's going on with hillary clinton because a statement was released within the last couple of hours to say that the clot she had was between the base of the brain and the skull. but that she is in very good spirits and her doctors are optimistic. so we're going to take a quick break. after that, we will join "hardball" with chris matthews. ♪
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welcome back to "hardball." it's time for the 2012 post-game show. we'll start with the primary season and the low lights and
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then move on to the general election. mitt romney summed up the g oor gop primary season. we had 20 republican debates. that was absolutely nuts. and nen in the august, 2011 debate, when the candidates assembled on stage showed their intransigence on the issue of raising taxes. watch him go to work here. let's listen. >> i'm going to ask a question to everyone here on the stage. say you had a deal, a real spending cuts deal. 10 to 1, as byru byron said. speaker, you're already shaking your head. but who, on this stage, would walk away from that deal? you feel so strongly about not raisining tax, you'd walk away the 10 to 1 deal. >> another highlights and low lights of the gop primary
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michael steel. that was a scene where you come up from the roots of the republican party. was that a good dare or a bad day for the republicans. >> i think it was a bad day. i think he recognized after the fact that that was a definitive moment where he could have carved out a new space on that stage and probably one a campaign free of that package. >> it wouldn't have looked very good after that e lexz. >> right: i'm just saying. i think that moment sort of solidified -- >> yeah, i agree with you. >> the rest of the story. >> you know in politics, you never want to be the ones you voted against or you're going to get blamed for it. or else vote for the bill when it fames. >> i agree with the chairman. it was also, in the long term, the beginning of the end for
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mitt romney. >> how so? >> yes. >> well, because he began to lock himself into a position of rover norquisting himself for the whole election. that played into a businessman. >> it's like saying i have to be the most se gregationist guy in the south. >> i guess you could say that whatever an early primary season crowd claps for furiously is happening. it's going to kill you on october 15th in ohio. that's exactly what happens. let's get back to the iowa caucus. mitt romney's campaign in the super pact thavs supporting him were in a mission to annihilate in the ads. just bomb the hell out of this city. newt gingrich was the biggest threat. let's watch. here's a romney supporting ad
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destroying newt. >> you know what makes barack obama happy? newt gingrich's baggage. he has more baggage than the airlines. freddie machelped cause the economic demise. $1.6 million. gingrich not only teamed up with nancy pelosi on global warming, but, together, they co-sponsored a bill that gave $60 million a year that supported a u.n. program for china. >> there's been a lot of discussion in my head about whether they actually work a general election. people have made up their mind. no ad is going to change their mind. but those ads out there -- >> primaries, they are deadly. and particularly in republican primaries, in that ad in particular, for newt gingrich, was devastating. because it hit -- it was the kitchen sink. it threw it all in there. >> what did it say about him? that you didn't like? >> it said he's an insider.
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he's a -- >> washington pal. >> yes, he even pals around with nancy pelosi. >> didn't you see those loving looks that they managed to work with the camera shot? >> real quick on that. the interesting thing, and i thought if i were to pivot it off of that caption of him and nancy together because that's what the people are looking for, that partnership working, getting things done. >> but they were telling you about global warming. >> well, it's not -- >> the other thing about that ad, that was symbolic of the entire mitt romney campaign strategy in the primaries, which was a sort of take no prisoners, attack-the-other-guy strategy. it wasn't about philosophy. it did nothing to show that mitt romney was a committee conservative. it just showed he had tons of money who could carve up anybody in his path. that left him with a lot of making up to do once he secured the nomination. the way he got the nomination
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showed weakness in his camp. >> let's go back to the strategy, which it was. somebody is going to be the republican nominee and that person is going to beat obama. therefore, all you have to do is beat that nominee. >> that was his theory. but, as howard just noted and neil sodacca made very famous, making up is hard to do. so the reality came for mitt romney, once he secured that nomination in the early spring, having everybody fall in line and it just wasn't there. >> how many versuses can you do? >> mitt romney pushed himself so far to the right, we know this part is true. especially in immigration. the general was nearly impossible. by the way, i don't think he ef b tried one. here's the immigration exchange that became a defining line on the right. let's listen. >> let's stand immigration for a second. governor romney, there's one thing i'm confused about. you say you don't want to go and round up people and deport them. but you say they would have to go back to their home countries and apply for citizenship. if you don't deport them, how do
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you send them home? >> the answer is self deportation. which is people can decide they can do better by going home because they can't find work here because they don't have legal document tation to allow them to work here. >> there was a little at the timer there in the back round. first of all, the phrase "self deportation". >> was a headline. >> yes. and it managed to summarize everything people didn't like about mitt romney. >> you mean firing you? >> well, the firing part of it. but the sort of cold part of it. that these are just sort of numbers on a spread sheet. these people were self deport. and i think the combination of the two, the cold hardedness and the cold-bloodedness of it just played into everybody's view of romney. >> like the bathtub is just going to overflow. >> well, it's just not realistic. even among republicans in the hall, it's like grand pop is going to wake up tomorrow and say mitt said i should self deport. >> you kids are staying. i'm getting out of here.
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anyway, in mid september last year, this was funny. and i hope it didn't ruin the guy's life. rick perry, the guy who was much celebrated, led the gop feel for a while. many thought he'd win this thing until some lackluster debate gave primary voters second thoughts. and then came this moment. november 9th, big debate, here he is trying to remember the three government agencies he wants to get rid of. let's watch. >> and i will tell you, it's three agencies of government when i get there that are gone. commerce, education and the -- what's the third one there? let's see. >> five. >> oh, five. okay, commerce, education and the, um, um -- >> epa? >> epa. there you go. >> seriously, is epa the one you're talking about? >> no, sir, no, sir. we're talking about the, um, agencies of government. epa needs to be rebuilt.
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>> but you can't name the third one? >> the third agency of government, i would do away with education, the commerce, and let's see. i can't. the third one, i can't. sorry. oops. >> he must have had a whole lot of help. >> you can't bring notes with you, they start scribbling the notes. >> up next, the right wing's most outrageous conspiracy theories are m coing up. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ male announcer ] what are happy kids made of?
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back to "hardball."
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the final weeks of president obama's first term are upon us. it's hard to remember the bizarre conspiracy theories. let eegs look back at some of the worst first. others on the right were up in arms over rumors about what the trip would cost. >> i think we know that just within a day or so, the president of the united states will be taking a trip over to india that is kmexpected to cos the taxpayers $200 million dlarsz a day. the american people are quite frankly struggling right now. >> for comparison, $200 million a day would have surpassed the war in afghanistan at the time. that nonfactual story about the cost of obama's trip was started by an unnamed source on an
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indian news web site. we can't talk about conspiracy theories without bringing up rush limbaugh. >> you've got a hurricane coming. the national hurricane center, with a government agency, very hopeful that the hurricane gets near tampa. obama is sending in fema in advance. in tampa, a bunch of rvs and stuff making it look like a disaster area before the hurricane even hits there.
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>> what caused the idea of a floating tax increase? it's about the need to beef up the military personnel in case civil war breaks out. here's judge hedd on that one. >> i'm thinking worst case scenario, civil civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war, maybe. we're talking lexington, concord, take up arms and get rid of the guy. he's going to send in u.n. troops. i'm going to stay in front of the armored personnel carriers and say you're not coming in here. the sheriff, i said are you going to back me? he said yeah, i'll back you. finally, here's iowa, u.s.
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congressman steve king with how president obama's mother managed to convince us all that her son was born in hawaii, not in kenya. >> i looked into that before he was sworn into the presidency. we found the microfiche of only two newspapers in hawaii, each of them had published the birth of barack obama. it would have been awfully hard to fraudulently file the birth notice of barack obama being born in hawaii. >> by telegram. i guess she neglected to consider the mother, naming her son barack husein obama might be a setback. any way, up next, these people are looney. from the 4 47% video to president obama's debate disaster in november, you're
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it is not a slam dunk, but democrats and republicans on capitol hill are reportedly close to a deal aimed at at least portions of the fiscal cliff on overting tax hikes on middle income americas. they're still vague about delaying across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester. stay with msnbc for more updates. now back to "hardball."
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>> let's dig into the turning points of general election. first up, the video that turned out to be the low point for the romney campaign. the candidates taped campaigns that half the americans are lazy. it's known as the 47% video. let's listen again. >> . >> never trust the caterers. anyway, republican national
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chairman committee man. i say that because i could not have been somebody who paid 1 $10,000 to go 234 there and then hurt the guy. if u you're right about this election, it's the numbers. first of all, they occupy people. 1 pnt. all of the sudden, 1% became the thing to talk about. and then the 47% being anybody who's on any kind of government benefit program. whether it's disability or retirement or military or pension. everything was panted as bad. where did he get that number? >> well, look, you know, this election was all about the numbers. 23 million, one and six on welfare. but it was that 47% number that trumped them all at the end of the day. people galvanized around that. it really talked about that disconnect. >> do you think it's his brand
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of ideology? >> no -- >> do you think it's odd that there's a few people out there pulling the load for everybody else? >> no, i think it's a cold, calculated business look. that's how he looks at it. >> i disagree. i think it's his philosophy and i think it showed in that tape. >> how do you know it's his floss fi? you can't say it's his philosophy because he nevada told us what that was. >> i think he said some nice things at one point. >> when he spoke at the democratic national convention, former president bill clinton brought the house down. this was one of the great speeches, ever, i think. it made the case for reelecting president obama in a way the candidate himself never got able to do, even to the end. let's listen to big bill at his best. >> are we better off than we were when he talk office? then, listen to this. listen to this. everybody's forgotten. everybody's forgotten when president barack obama took
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office, the economy was in free fall, it had just shrunk nine full percent in gdp. we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. are we doing better than that today? the answer is yes. >> you know, i was thinking back to the fairy tale remark. the guy's showman ship with the gesticulation, the hands, the whole dinism the way he presents this case. >> earlier this year, i wrote oh, who needs conventions what are they for, anyway? they're for moments like that. i was on the floor at that moment. it was one of the most memorable things i've seen live in a hall or anywhere. that was bill clinton at the sum malgs of his career. that was everything he learned about how to make a case for the president.
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>> you wonder why barack obama could rnt do it? that's probably because the kind of case he had to make, somebody other than the president had to make. if the president himself says, you know we were in a terrible situation when i came in, it doesn't sound as compelling. >> i had a moment like that up in new hamp chir when clinton was running the first time. he had the problems with the girlfriend way back when. that was all behind him. and then he went out in front of these field houses in high school gyms and he spoke in the round. and he would go on the last question in the room he'd answer. and rick hertzburg said to me nobody in our generation can do that. only he can to that. >> what also impressed me about that, i was covering that very same series of events was his will. bill clinton's will to succeed. >> that's what separates. you take the worst falls in the world and come running back. anyway, another threat that
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derailed his campaign, and it was purely negative, although it was a pretty good day for mitt romney. the president's listless performance which he says caused me to have a stroke afterwards, i was so appalled by it. here's part of his closing argument, if you want to call it that, an argument. >> you know, four years ago, i said i'm not a perfect man and and i would bt be a perfect president. and that's probably a promise that governor romney thinks i've kept. but i fight every single day on behalf of the american people. i've kept that promise. if you'll vote for me, then i promise i'll fight just as hard in the second term. >> i don't know. i don't know what to say efen now. his brain is always working on two or three levels when you're with him. here he is, i want off this channel. i want off the stage.
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>> i think a lot of it had to do with how he feels personally about mitt romney. the idea he was on the stanl was just beneath him. he's someplace else. but i think political, why am i dealing with tier two. >> we are not going to tolerate red tape. we are not going to tolerate bureaucracy. i've instituted a 15-minute rule. you return everybody's phone calls in 15 minutes. if they need something, we
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figure out a way to say yes. >> whatever he said, there's so much devastation. it's worse than we've thought in the beginning. it just keeps getting worse and worse. but that picture, i think it was just two people of different parties. and the biggest applause i've heard in the campaign was can't we work together? >> it's what we've heard all along. the republicans and democrats, conservatives and liberals coming together in a common goal. >> why do you think it seems to be stronger bipartisanship. >> i think that was there. and i think to chris christie's credit, he galvanized the moment to action. but you saw a cooperation. you saw his government and the federal government coming together to solve people's problems. >> they had the fleece on. the sleeves were rolled up. >> i have to tell you, i love politics. >> you do? >> i'm breaking this story here. certain things thought when people rise to the occasion, they did the right thing.
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and i love bill clinton coming to save his old rival. and he did. anyway, thank you, michael steele. up next, from etch-a-sketch to legitimate rape to 47%. the most notable political quotes of the year. which quote tops it? that's ahead. and this is "hardball" the place for politics.
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we're wac. 2012 is coming to a close. let's look back at a few of the most memorable quotations. everything from the historic, to the infamous to the absurd. for the 7th year, fred shapiro has released his list of the top ten quotes. which ones will stand the test of time? you be the judge. joining me right now is a columnist for bloomburg review. gentlemen, get in your starting gates. here's the number one, actually, the number seven quote of the year, it happened in march while the republican primary fight was still going on. romney had been pushed to fight on a host of issues and the question many were asking was could he pivot back to the
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center in his general election. let's watch. >> he hit a reset button for the fall campaign. it's almost like an etch-a-sketch. you can kind of shake it up and we start all over again. >> i've never seen a guy just give away the signals. here's our secret plan for the general election. we're going to pretend we're moderates. and there, he did. >> he not only gave away the plan, they had to then cancel the plan and they didn't actually pivot to the center until that first debate many months later. so what that etch-a-sketch comment did was it almost cost them the election right there. it prevented them from scampering back to the middle in time. on issues like immigration and it didn't allow romney the running room to win the election. >> he also said i don't believe a word i spoke since i began running for reelection.
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if one comment crystallized the overwhelming trouble the republican party had with the american women voters, it was this. take a look at number 6. >> first of all, from what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> i love the double whammy this guy. if -- let's start with the first part -- if it's a legitimate rape. what did that mean? >> well, what it meant was absolutely unjustifiable. and it was the reason for the potential of today aiken to go off the reservation on an issue that was one of the democrats seizing on and prepared to hit him on. sort of shows why democrats wanted him to be the nominee to the point where they advertised democratic super pacts in his primary for the republican nomination to run for senate against claire mccaskell in missouri as it said todd aiken
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is too conservative. he's never voted to raise taxes. he is opposed to abortion. and republican primary voters there in missouri said hey, this sounds like our kind of guy. so democrats kind of meddled in that primary. they got the candidate that they wanted and he self destructed just as they wanted, making what should have been a tough reelection fight for claire mccaskell kind of a cake walk. >> we always get our man and claire mccaskell got her man. the president bounced back with two strong showings. here's a memorable line from the third debate that ranked as the number five quote of the year. take a look. >> you mentioned the navy, for example. we had fewer ships than we did in 1916. well, govgovernor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets. we have these things called hav aircraft carriers where planes land on them. we have ships that go underwater, nuclear submarine.
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>> talk about patronizing. the most memorable moments from the debates occurred in the second debate. take a look at the number four quote of the year. >> i think it's interesting the president just said something which is on the day after the attack, he went in the rose garden and said that this was an act of terror. >> that's what i say. >> you said in the rose garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror. it was not a spontaneous demonstration. that what you're saying? >> please proceed, governor. >> john, there is so much to that phrase. please proceed. was that constitutional law class? >> i love that. >> what was that? was that "the good wife"? it was a courtroom scene there, i think. >> he just led him right into the trap. and that was very harmful to mitt romney because not only did it take benghazi off the table, it basically took foreign policy off the table. it seemed like in the third
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debate that romney barely showed up because he had basically ceded all of foreign policy to the president. that's what the polls were showing. but also, it's something that you very rarely see in a debate, chris, which is a clean kill. you've got lloyd benson doing it to dan quayle. two or three other examples in the entire history of presidential debates. and this was the perfect one where romney was very well prepared on many other issues, was taken by his staff to a place that he shouldn't have been, where he is trying to score points on an issue where he shouldn't have been trying to score. >> i could just add to this. >> go ahead, what made that so effective is he wasn't even the one who delivered the sort of kill line. it was candy crowley, the moderator of the debate. because of what romney said is that obama did not use those words was so demonstratebly false that the moderator stepped in at the time and fact checked
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him and said you're wrong. that was so devastating. >> well said, well said. it was critical. he is right, john. the next quote caused the internet to blow up. twitter instantly went wild. it's the number two quote of the year. let's take a listen. >> we took a concerted effort to good out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. i went to a number of women's groups and said can you help us find folks. they brought us whole binders full of women. >> what is the quote of the year? this probably won't shock you. in some ways it defined what the election is all about. let's watch. there. >> are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. all right there are 47% with him who believe that they're victims, who belief the government has the responsibility to care for them. so my job is not to worry about those people. i'll never -- they should take first responsibility and care for their lives. >> agreed, john, agreed, ken, that this was the line that put
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him away? >> not only was this unbelievably devicive in a country that likes to think of itself as one country, but it was critically important that it was caught on surruptious video. if this is something he had said in public, it would have been a big gaffe, but not as big as seeing it on that video where the voter is thinking ah-ha, now i'm seeing the real mitt romney, not one in the imagining. >> and not just that, the setting, that he was speaking to wealthy donors who he could be candid with. it was like the true mitt romney talking to his people in this setting. just so illustrative of what people's preconceptions, worst preconception of who mitt romney was. >> you know, a really good lawyer in washington to make your point told me other day in criminal cases, the worst thing that can happen in a criminal trial is just to hear the voice of your client on tape there is something about caught on tape. ever since nixon, i don't know. what you don't want to be caught
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on tape. thank you. merry christmas, happy new year to both of you guys. happy new year. when we return, let me finish with my thoughts on the year that was. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. [ whistle blows ] hi victor! mom? i know you got to go in a minute but this is a real quick meal, that's perfect for two! campbell's chunky beef with country vegetables, poured over rice! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right.
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let me end tonight and the year with this. i said it was a year of two steps forward, one step backward. a reasonable judgment about america in 2012 is we are a more
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diverse people than some imagined. we are a country more tolerant than i imagined. was it a good year for america? my answer is yes. as a country, we backed the rights of women, increasingly backed those of guy people. we voted as a people who believe not just in life and liberty, but the pursuit of happiness. from a distance of 236 years, we were very loyal to the opening words of the declaration of independence. i never believed president barack obama had a second term in the bag. the night of his first debate with governor romney i thought that he was on his way out of town, be he wasn't. his vice president outbattled his rival. the president himself came back to show that he was not a man to be taken down twice. most important, he got some breaks. the supreme court upheld health care. the jobless rate dropped below 8%. mitt romney out on a limb trying to be something he isn't, a right wing simple on the. we look forward to a new year and a administration with a significantly progressive president. americ